November 2, 2009

And they grow in my courtyard. Take a look:

It turns out that these are fly Amanitae, which = psychoactive and potentially poisonous. So, probably won’t be eating those. However, my Sweetie and I noticed a load of other mushrooms a-sprouting around the yard, not all of them spotty. What’s more, last weekend, I saw our neighbor and his main squeeze trolling the grass like truffle pigs and snapping up toadies left and right.

If that’s not living Small, I don’t know what is. Foraging in the backyard for foodstuffs? Totally fly! Any recommendations for ID’ing these funky fungi?

October 25, 2009

Here is a list of things that get me high on Halloween:

Costumes. Duh. Homemade ones are the best, like when my mom made that cranberry-colored velvet dress and pink faux fur stole so I could be a Rich Lady in first grade. High five, Mom! What’s your fave costume, now or gone?

Candy pumpkins. I like to pretend I’m the giant from The Brave Little Tailor, who picks up a horsecart-ful of pumpkins and dumps them in his mouth. Remember that?

Thriller. Word, MJ. I will dance like that herd of zombies, maybe in my next life.

It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. The wisdom of The Brown: “Never jump into a pile of leaves with a wet sucker.”

Jack-o’-lanterns. For more, see Figs. 1 & 2.

Despite the non-Smallishness of buying a farm-fed squash raised especially for slicing, Mr. LS and I hosted a carving festival with a few friends, some butternut squash & pear soup + hand-twisted soft pretzels (yes, I married an incredible man-chef), and some pumpkin cookies from my friend Jill.

But, in the spirit of Small living, both the man-chef and I tried to recycle pieces of our pumpkins as artistic additions to our jackies.

Fig. 1: Mister’s Devil.

Fig. 2: My Dead Prom Queen.

In both cases, we reused the mouth cutouts as embellishments, affixed with toothpicks: Mister chopped his in half for horns; I flipped and fastened mine for a clever little crown.